Companion animals such as dogs and cats seem to suffer from aging problems. Some of these are manifested in commonplace sayings. One of these is “you can't teach an old dog new tricks.” This saying arises from the observation that as dogs age, their mental capacity seems to diminish as well as physical abilities. Mental activities associated with thinking, learning and memory seem to be lessened (Cummings B J, Head E, Ruehl W, Milgram N W, Cotman C W 1996: The canine as an animal model of aging and dementia; Neurobiology of aging 17:259-268). Additionally, behavioural change can be manifested in the aging animals in association with the changing mental capacity. Many causes have been assigned to this lessening of capacity.
These losses in capacity are generally observed in aged canines and felines. Dogs of seven years or older and felines of seven years or older are considered aged and can experience this problem.
An important indicator of animal health is the body composition of the animal. An unhealthy diet and/or an unhealthy lifestyle can result in the animal having an unhealthy proportion of body fat, particularly in relation to lean muscle in the body. It is thought that a body fat amount in excess of 30% by weight indicates that the animal is unhealthy, particularly if the amount of body fat is in excess of 35% by weight.
The invention encompasses pet food compositions for companion animals, which have increased therapeutic and prophylactic efficacy over currently marketed companion food products.